One Way to Cure
by Setsuna-X
Summary: 3 months pre-game. Guy is still afraid of women and Luke finds a way to fix that with help from Natalia. Mild GuyxLuke, shonen-ai
1. Preparations

"**One Way to Cure"  
**_By: Setsuna-X_

**Summary:** 3 months pre-game. Guy is still afraid of women and Luke finds a way to fix that with help from Natalia with an added bonus, of course.  
**Notes: **This is shonen-ai (BL, yaoi, slash) with the pairings being Guy x Luke. This also has cross-dressing elements. No real spoilers.  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own the characters or anything else to do with "Tales of the Abyss" - I just own the game.

**

* * *

Chapter 1- **_Preparations_

* * *

It was just another normal day in the Fabre Manor. The season had just turned into spring and Luke was once again left with nothing really to do. Guy had no real chores to take care of around the manor and decided to hang out with Luke in his room, just to read a book. The long haired red head was annoyed at being ignored and decided that it was finally time to test his latest experiment.

"Hey Guy," began Luke, laying lazily on his bed, his crimson-orange hair billowed underneath him.

"Hm?" questioned Guy from his place on the floor. The blonde was sitting on the floor with his back leaning against the bed reading a book. Luke crawled over tho where his friend was sitting, trying to get a look at what the older boy was reading. Unable to make any sense of the fon tech and fon machine gibberish the emerald-eyed boy gave up in a huff.

Before he could begin his experiment he had to make sure of one more thing. "Are you still afraid of women?" Luke softly asked nonchalantly into Guy's ear, still looking over the blonde's' shoulder.

"Ahh!" exclaimed Guy as he turned his head and saw that his masters' face was only a few centimeters away from his own. The blonde's' face became mildly heated, adding a pink tint across the slightly tanned skin. Blinking, confused green eyes met his gaze, wondering about the unnatural reaction. "Well," began Guy, scratching behind his head in confused manner, "Yeah, I'm still afraid of them. I mean, I can't seem to remember that one moment of my life."

"I see," said Luke simply, rolling off the bed and heading out of the room.

"Where are you going?" called Guy after him, wondering where the sudden questioning about the subject had come from.

"The bathroom," announced Luke flippantly, his long, red hair framing his body from behind as he swayed his way toward the general direction of the bathroom.

**x-x-x**

Guy sighed as he placed his book on the ground, no longer in the mood to read it.

_'What was that all about?' _he thought to himself, confused by Luke's actions. He knew that there was something going on in that pretty little head of his, but couldn't guess at all what it was. "Pretty?" muttered out Guy, surprised at using that word specifically to describe his friends face. He hummed lightly in thought, musing over how the word 'pretty' actually made sense in describing Luke.

Guy picked up his book again, deciding to wait until the red head managed to make his way back, but resolving himself to go look for the sometimes air-headed boy if he took too long. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't bear not knowing where the emerald-eyed boy was at all times, it just sort of happened that way after having to practically raise the boy since he returned from the kidnapping. Or so he told himself.

**x-x-x**

Luke, meanwhile, ignored his previously proclaimed destination and wandered his way out of the manor. He knew that he wasn't supposed to leave without someone accompanying him, but he wanted to drag in as few people as possible into his little idea. Besides, it wasn't the first time he did this anyway.

He walked over to the wall that lead out into the castle courtyard and crawled around the huge bushes aligned against the wall, acting as a barrier. Once he spotted the spot he had marked with a small smiley face did Luke begin pulling out part of the wall. He had found out that there was a small hole in the manors' outside wall, but instead of letting anyone know he decided to keep this as his own little secret passage in order to be able to sneak out every now and then. After he pulled away enough stones for his body through move through did he make sure the bushes covered up the spot. He righted himself into a standing position and snuck his way into Baticul castle.

He made his way over to Natalia's room, glad that there was no guard at her door at the moment, but knew he had to act fast before someone spotted him. He didn't want to get berated by his father or Guy. He knocked once, to at least give the Kimlascan princess some warning then quickly made his way into the lavish room.

"Luke!" exclaimed the strawberry-blonde girl as she spotted her friend, "what are you doing here?!" she half shrieked and half accused.

"Shh, be quiet will you?" berated Luke, smiling in satisfaction as the princess blushed at the command, knowing full well that a princess of a nation shouldn't act so brash and common.

"Well, what are you doing here? You know that you shouldn't leave the manor. What if people are looking for you?" she reasoned, glad to have regained her proper tone.

"Naw, I just told Guy I was going to the bathroom," said Luke, "but I need your help," the red-head interjected quickly, seeing as his friend was going to go into another tirade.

"Help?" echoed Natalia, "help with what?" she asked, confused as to what Luke would actually need help with. It wasn't everyday the emerald-eyed boy _asked _for help.

"Well, you see," began Luke awkwardly, not knowing how to begin his explanation. "You know how Guy is afraid of women and all, right?" he asked and continued upon the nodded confirmation from the Kimlascan princess, "I want to help him get over his fear."

"That's very admirable of you, Luke," said Natalia in slight surprise after his usually selfish friends idea. She guessed though that Guy was an exception to a lot of attitudes and things that Luke usually said or did. "How do you propose to do that? And why do you need my help?" she questioned.

"This is my plan: I need to look and act like a girl in order to help him overcome his phobia," stated Luke confidently.

Natalia just stared at the boy in front of her and after a while quietly shrieked "What?!" not really understanding the plan.

"I figured that since I'm male and Guy is afraid of women only then he wouldn't be afraid of me since I'm, well, a boy who just happened to be acting like a girl. Get it?" said Luke, hoping his explanation made sense. He supposed it did since Natalia seemed to be contemplating his words.

"I see," she said, "I guess that does make sense. And where do I come in?"

"Obviously helping me learn how to be a girl!" nearly shouted Luke, annoyed at the princess for not even figuring that out. Besides, he was also a little embarrassed about the whole thing but wanted to do something for his best friend.

"No need to shout," berated Natalia subconsciously, used to having Luke blow up on her every now and then. "Ok, give me tonight to come up with some kind of regime for the next two weeks, and then I'll meet you tomorrow in your room. Make sure Guy isn't going to visit you that day."

"Alright, thanks Natalia," said Luke as he began to make his way back to the door. I should go now before Guy notifies the whole Manor that I'm missing." Natalia nodded her head in agreement and went back to her reading that Luke had so unexpectedly interrupted.

Once out of the castle Luke made it through his secret hole in the wall and made his way back to his room, really hoping that Guy didn't grill him about his whereabouts. Going to the bathroom shouldn't have to take around a half and hour.

_TBC_

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**

**A/N:** I just finished playing ToA all the way through and am getting ready to play a second time. After playing I realized I just had to get into reading some ToA fanfiction and figured that I'd like to try my hand in writing some ToA fanfiction as well. I don't think this is going to be overly long, but it will be a chaptered fic. Anyway, thanks to anyone who read.


	2. To Get Started

"**One Way to Cure"  
**_By: Setsuna-X_

**Summary:** 3 months pre-game. Guy is still afraid of women and Luke finds a way to fix that with help from Natalia with an added bonus, of course.  
**Notes: **This is shonen-ai (BL, yaoi, slash) with the pairings being Guy x Luke. This also has cross-dressing elements. No real spoilers.  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own the characters or anything else to do with "Tales of the Abyss" - I just own the game.

**

* * *

****Chapter 2 – To Get Started**

* * *

Luke made his way back to his room, careful to replace the stones in the outside wall. He hoped that Guy had left already, but knowing his best friend that seemed highly improbable. Just as he suspected Guy was already standing with his hands on his hips, glowering at the red head.

"And where have you been?" Guy accused, though inwardly he was relieved that Luke had returned safely.

"I told you. I was in the bathroom," snipped Luke. He didn't like being reprimanded for things.

"And why did it take you over half an hour to go to the bathroom?" quickly countered Guy.

"I got lost," replied Luke flippantly as he made his way further into the room and sat on his springy bed.

"You got lost…" repeated Guy a bit confused, though he bounced back quickly. "How can you get lost?!" the blonde almost screeched.

Luke just cleaned his ear nonchalantly and replied, "This place is huuuge! It's obvious that I'd get lost every now and then."

Guy decided not to even bother to respond to his friends' jabs. It was obvious that the redhead was not going to answer truthfully. "Fine, don't answer me straight then," complained Guy, picking up his book from the floor.

Luke just looked at the blonde, slightly sad at having to lie to him, but the reward to help Guy get over his fear outweighed his guilt. The young master just sat and watched his friend gather his things silently; thinking of how he was going to make sure his friend didn't visit him again tomorrow.

Guy looked over at the uncharacteristically silent boy who was just sitting on his bed, kicking his legs back and forth. The blonde straightened himself up and turned to face Luke with his books in his arms and his sword strapped once again to his waist.

"What is it?" he questioned the young master. Luke looked up at him, surprised at being disturbed while he was deep in thought.

"Guy," began the redhead a bit hesitantly, "What are you going to do tomorrow?"

The blonde man just looked at his young master in slight confusion but answered anyway. "Uh, nothing in particular. I was planning on spending some time with you since you get bored so often."

Luke looked a little panicked, but covered the expression well. "Well, you see," began Luke, rubbing the back of his neck nervously; a habit he hadn't been able to get rid of. "Natalia is coming over tomorrow and I wanted to spend some time with her since I haven't seen her in a while." Luke was relieved that he finally got that out, although he was happy that Guy was planning on just hanging out with him.

Something in Guy's chest tightened when he heard that. It wasn't as if he hated Natalia or anything, heck the girl was a godsend sometimes since she was able to help reign in Luke whenever the young master became a brat, but something in him didn't want her to spend the whole day with Luke. He had no say in it though so he just clutched the books closer to his chest. Why was he feeling this way? He was able to see Luke whenever he wanted since he was practically attached at the hip with the younger boy, but this still didn't sit well with him, though none of his feelings showed on his face.

"Oh, well that's fine then. You don't want me to come over then?" Guy questioned. Even though Natalia was coming over that didn't mean that the three of them hadn't hung out with each other before.

Luke looked a little guilty at that question but managed a response nonetheless. "Yeah, I haven't seen her in a long time so I just want to hang out with her tomorrow." Silently the redhead hoped his friend wasn't mad at him or anything. Too bad he wanted the whole 'treatment' to be a secret until he perfected being a girl, otherwise he wouldn't hide it from his friend.

Guy looked a little surprised at the resolution on Luke face, but gave in regardless. It wasn't his place to demand attention from the redhead so he just bit back the impulse to insist on being allowed to come over. "Alright then. I'll see you later then, Luke," said Guy as he made his way out of Luke's room.

Luke looked at the closed door slightly put out. He could tell that Guy's smile was forced, but he couldn't figure out why. Did the blonde really want to spend time with him tomorrow? What if he had planned something special or something and he was ruining his plans? Luke panicked slightly, but then remembered to breathe slowly. It was something that Guy had taught him to do whenever he panicked ever since the kidnapping and he found out it helped immensely. After finally calming down Luke reasoned that he would have to make sacrifices if he wanted his friend to finally be cured from his phobia.

The redhead laid down on his bed with his arms tucked behind his head as he fell asleep.

**x-x-x**

Luke awoke to someone knocking incessantly on his bedroom door. He groaned as he woke up, shoving his hair away from his face. It was a total mess, but he didn't care as he rose out of his bed to open the door. Once the door was open he had to shield his eyes from the sun and then he spotted a glowering princess right in his face.

"About time you woke up!" she yelled, annoyed at having to be kept waiting. Not many would be able to get away with keeping the Princess of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear waiting. Luke was just lucky that he was one of the few who could.

"What time is it?" blearily asked Luke, rubbing his eyes and suppressing a yawn. His clothes were rumpled and hanging off him. It was clear that he had just woken up.

"I can't believe you're still sleeping at 7:30 in the morning," said Natalia as she stood up straight and crossed her arms over her chest.

"7:30!" yelled out Luke, "Why the hell did you wake me up so early!?"

"What do you mean 'early'?" asked Natalia genuinely. "I'm usually up at 6:30 in the morning daily."

Luke looked at the Princess as if she was insane. Who would dare wake up that early every day? It wasn't as if there were things to do. "Ugh," he groaned. "Let me go back to sleep," whined the young master as he turned to leave back into his room.

"Oh no you don't," said Natalia as she followed the redhead into the room and tried to yank him off the bed. Luke had already burrowed himself inside the covers and was very adamant at not coming out.

"Let me sleeeeep.." he whined again, clutching at the mattress with all his strength, which wasn't much since he had just woken up.

"Luke fon Fabre, you get yourself up this instant!" yelled out Natalia, giving up on pulling Luke off the bed. She stood there with her arms crossed over her chest again, glaring heatedly at the redhead. "Don't you want to help Guy get over his fear?" she asked more softly since that information was secret.

Luke poked his head out from underneath the blankets and stared at Natalia with realization on his face. That's right, he had a job to do. It wasn't everyday that he was this driven to help someone out, but Guy was special and he wanted to help his friend out as much as he could. Luke leaped out of the bed, scaring Natalia with his sudden enthusiasm, and began to undress out of his pajamas.

"Ahh! What are you doing?" screeched Natalia in a slightly higher pitch than usual. Luke stood in the middle of the room in only his pants, already making his way to remove said clothing. He looked over to Natalia and saw the girl trying to cover her eyes with her hands, though peaking through them nonetheless and her face ablaze with a fierce blush.

"Uhh, changing?" questioned Luke, unsure at what her problem was. He and Guy had changed in front of each other quite often before without all this drama.

"Well, don't do it in front of me! Warn me next time," declared the Princess, calming down slightly once she saw that Luke had removed his hands from his pants. The young master stood there with hands on his hips and an annoyed glare on his face.

"Why not? We grew up together didn't we? What's the big deal?" he asked again, innocently albeit annoyed.

"I'm a girl, you idiot," Natalia said, "you don't undress in front of girls unless…" and she stopped there, not wanting to explain that the only time a man would undress in front of a girl is when he was going to make love to her. Her face blushed once more, but continued anyway. "You just don't do that, Luke. I'm a girl and we see it as rude and perverted," she finished off, hoping the blush on her face had subsided.

"Uhh, ok," conceded Luke easily enough. He didn't want to be referred to as a pervert for the rest of his life. He wondered what Natalia was going to say before but decided to let it go since the girl seemed to be at her wits end already. "Well, can you leave then so I could change?" asked Luke pointedly.

"Um, right," said the princess as she scooted her way out of the room. Who knew having to wake Luke up would result in this much chaos. Next time she vowed she'd get a servant to wake up the cute, but insufferable boy.

**x-x-x**

Once things managed to calm down and both people of royalty had breakfast it was time for some training. Natalia lead Luke back to his bedroom and pulled out some paper from her purse.

"I want you to look over this list and be aware of all the things you're _not_ allowed to do as a woman," said Natalia as she handed the list she had created the night before over to Luke's outstretched hand.

"Hmm," hummed Luke as he scanned the list. "Huh? Are you serious?! Are you sure you can't do that as a girl?" asked Luke as he pointed to number 11 on the list.

"Yes, you can't do that. Or anything on this list, as a matter of fact. Women are really restricted once I thought more deeply about it," responded Natalia as she silently laughed at Luke's expressions as he made his way further down the list.

"Man, I feel bad for you girls. This is an infringement of basic human rights," said Luke, unaware of the slightly bewildered look Natalia shot at him. 'When did Luke even learn those words?' she thought to herself.

"I guess I just gotta practice all this stuff then, huh?" questioned Luke.

"Yes, you have to be aware of all your movements all the time. You do not want to be caught acting improper or un-lady like. You'll practice _not_ doing these things while we move on to walking," said Natalia as she snickered evilly inside. It wasn't everyday that she was able to boss Luke around, and especially in this fashion. _He_ needed _her_ help and she was going to make sure he appreciated all the time it took to come up with his training.

"Walking?" questioned Luke as he stopped staring at the list to get a better look at the princess.

"Yes, a proper lady must be able to walk like a proper lady. It usually takes a while to perfect this, but since you claim that you don't have that much time we're going to have to increase and speed up the process."

"Alright, just give me a minute to memorize this list, will you? I don't want to start messing up right from the beginning."

Natalia hummed her consent as she sat on the bed silently, running over the days training in her head.

Luke continued to look at the list, trying to memorize the more complex things a girl wasn't supposed to do.

_**--- The **__**Do Not's**__** of Female Etiquette ---**_

_1) Rub your belly in public  
__2) Burp out loud; if you have to the do so quietly into your hand or napkin  
__3) Laugh raucously and very loudly  
__4) Growl at an individual who made you angry  
__5) Lick your lips; if there is food on your mouth wipe it away with a napkin  
__6) Rub your eyes unless someone mentions them and you have an incentive to do so  
__7) Sit with your legs open  
__8) Sigh loudly because of boredom  
__9) Pick your nose  
__10) Pick your ear  
__11) Eat everything off your plate  
__12) Drink more wine than the head of the table during dinner  
__13) Talk incessantly or loudly  
__14) Chew with your mouth open or while talking  
__15) Eat with your elbows on the table  
__16) Drag your feet when you walk (will be discussed further during walking exercise)  
__17) Run (unless chased by something dangerous)  
_18) '_Squeal' in joy when you see something you really like  
__19) Jump and hug everyone as a greeting  
__20) Let your eye twitch when you're annoyed or upset  
__21) Bite your lip when nervous  
__22) Yawn because of boredom (if you must then cover it up with your hand or napkin)  
__23) Go out with your hair, clothing, or make-up applied improperly  
__24) Scratch your head or any other part of your body in public  
__25) Use over active hand motions when speaking_

_ Take note that these are the only ones I was able to come up with last night. If more come at me during the training I will tell you so. Remember that these are the __**Do Not's**_ _of female etiquette. A separate list will be provided for the __**Do's**_

This looked harder than he first thought. "Alright, let's start the walking exercise then," declared Luke as he placed the list on his windowsill.

_TBC_

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A/N: **Thanks to all the people who reviewed and read this story. I hope you continue reading. If anyone has any suggestions on what females _**should **_and _**shouldn't **_do that they would like to see or be listed then please submit any ideas through a review or PM, thanks. Special thanks goes out to my reviewers, proving that the ToA fandom is still alive and well. 

**Kage.exe- **thanks, I'll try to update this more  
**Hivamu- **thanks, I will  
**Bankyon**- thankies!  
**Maiyoko Iwagashi- **haha, yeah I figured that with his attitude he'd find a way to get out every now and then. Thanks for reading.


	3. Not What it Seems

"**One Way to Cure"**

_By: Setsuna-X_

**Summary:** 3 months pre-game. Guy is still afraid of women and Luke finds a way to fix that with help from Natalia with an added bonus, of course.  
**Notes: **This is shonen-ai (BL, yaoi, slash) with the pairings being Guy x Luke. This also has cross-dressing elements. No real spoilers.  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own the characters or anything else to do with "Tales of the Abyss" - I just own the game.

**

* * *

Chapter 3 – Not What it Seems**

* * *

Walking, Luke thought, was harder than it looked. Natalia had asked one of the older maids in the castle for an extra pair of their high heels, preferably in a larger size. She pulled out the heels and had Luke put them on and attempt to walk.

At first the red-head had protested vehemently about having to wear heels like a girl, but when Natalia, not too nicely, reminded him that that was the whole point to this thing, the young royal stopped all protests.

"Natalia!" whined Luke as he once again wobbled as he walked from the wall to the window.

"What is it now, Luke?" huffed the Princess.

"This is really hard! How can you do this all the time?" he questioned, though he really didn't care for the answer. He didn't understand why women did this to themselves. What was the point, really?

Natalia just sighed. "Luke, if you think this is hard then we might as well stop. You have to learn how to do this properly before we can move onto other things and if you can't even handle this much then I don't think you'll be able to do the rest of the things I have planned out."

Luke just looked shocked. He needed to do this and the only person able to help him was Natalia. There was no way he was going to give up on Guy now. The blonde-haired man had given him so much already and really meant a lot to him, and he wanted to help him out as thanks. Luke sucked in some air and exhaled it slowly. His bright green eyes opened and revealed a new solid determination. He would, and could, do this. He needed to, for Guy.

"I'm sorry, Natalia," Luke apologized, and then looked awkwardly away since the Kimlasca princess stared at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. "Look, I need to do this and I promise I'll try not to whine too much."

Natalia just nodded her head slowly, but soon regained herself and a smile bloomed on her face. "That's the spirit, Luke," she cheered, clapping her hands twice. "Okay, then get to it. There are still some more things you have to learn about walking. Once you feel comfortable in heels we'll move on to the next step.

Luke looked ready to complain again, but caught himself in time. He had to remember that he was doing this for Guy. All for Guy.

With that thought, and a whole new wave of determination, Luke placed one foot in front of the other and continued his trek toward the window. Despite the wobbling, he felt a little more confident in himself.

**x-x-x**

"Excellent job, Luke. You have finally mastered the heels, but not the walking yet." Natalia ignored the annoyed groan from the boy in front of her and continued speaking. "Now you need to learn to keep balance and grace as you walk. We'll start with only one book on your head then move on from there, alright?"

"Yes Natalia," Luke answered petulantly. It wasn't as if he had much of a choice. Something he discovered from this whole walking exercise is that women sure had it tough and their regard certainly rose in his eyes.

Ignoring Luke's tone, Natalia grabbed one of the books from a shelf in Luke's room and handed it to the boy. "Here. You need to walk and balance this book as you walk. While doing that you also have to make sure that you're facing forward and that your back is straight."

Luke nodded and grabbed the book from the princess' hand. Natalia sat back down on the bed and continued to observe. Luke placed the book and balanced it as well as he could. The first couple of steps the book seemed to wobble and look as if it was about to fall, but it miraculously stayed on.

Throughout the whole exercise Natalia would correct his posture whenever his back started to arch or he slumped and shuffled his walking.

After about an hour and a half they called a stop to the exercise.

"I still don't know how you women can stand being in these heels all the time," said Luke as he sat on his bed next to Natalia and peeled off the shoes from his feet. His feet could finally breathe! He sat there a little longer; the heels in his hand, and wriggled his toes so they uncramped themselves.

"It's just something we have to do, so we do it. Not all women wear heels all the time though. Those that live on farms most likely wear flat shoes or boots. It's just that ladies here at the manor and castle have to wear heels, and usually some much taller than those," answered Natalia as she took a heel from Luke's hand.

Suddenly a knock came at the door.

"Luke! Are you awake? One of the maids told me that you had already come down to breakfast," said Guy as he just walked into Luke's room. The red-head had panicked since he still had a shoe at hand. Without thinking he chucked the thing underneath the blankets on his bed, but one shoe was still in Natalia's hand. Since the princess had frozen, Luke took the heel and placed it behind himself and Natalia, hoping that Guy couldn't see behind them. In order to hide the shoe better, Luke wrapped an arm around Natalia and brought her in close. The Kimlasca princess squeaked in surprise, but didn't say anything.

Guy froze upon the entering Luke's room. There, sitting on the bed with their arms practically around each other, was Luke and Natalia. The strawberry-blonde girl had a nice rosy tint to her cheeks, possibly from embarrassment at being caught being so close to her fiancé.

"Uh, sorry. I didn't know Luke had company. Excuse me," said Guy in a rush and with his blood pumping erratically in his ears. He had been embarrassed as well. That was the last thing he expected to run into in the morning, but Luke had told him the day before that the Kimlasca princess was coming over. It shouldn't have been too odd to witness, but at the same time it was. He never recalled Luke and Natalia ever acting very romantic with one another, especially after Luke's amnesia. The thought of seeing them so close made him feel odd inside, but he didn't know how to put the feelings into words.

As he walked back to his rooms, his hand clutched the fabric over his heart. He felt a jab of pain in his heart every time he saw Luke with Natalia. It was a very odd reaction and it also made him angry and sad at the same time. Luke and Natalia were his childhood friends; it's only natural that they hang out.

Ignoring the still jabbing sensation in his heart, Guy continued throughout his day. Maybe he could help Hank in the garden.

**x-x-x**

As soon as Guy left the room Luke took his arm off Natalia and held his head in his hands.

"That was close!" he breathed out. The Kimlasca princess could only nod in agreement. She wasn't sure what they would have said if Guy had seen the extra pair of heels. This only meant that they had to be more careful and more secretive for the following two weeks.

Finally calming down, Luke let out a low chuckle that soon became a full blown laugh. Natalia, startled at first, soon joined in, the absurdity of their situation finally hitting her. She was glad that Guy hadn't caught onto the truth because this meant that Luke's plan could continue, and just maybe Luke would also learn some compassion for people. The young monarch was very kind, but also very spoiled and naïve. It was hard to connect this Luke to the one that made her that promise from before, but she could sometimes see that chivalrous part.

This whole plan was also very nice and mature of Luke. Well, the plan wasn't very mature, but the intent behind it certainly was. It was wonderful to finally see Luke having an interest in others beside himself.

"I hope that Guy doesn't think anything too weird," said Luke as he gathered the heels and placed them in a drawer by his bed. It was the area he kept his diary and it was absolutely off limits to everyone, even the cleaning staff.

"What do you mean by weird?" questioned Natalia.

Luke came back and sat next to her. "Just that I don't want Guy getting the wrong idea. He actually seemed kind of sad as well as surprised." Natalia let her own surprise show with that statement. She had been too stunned to notice anything at that moment, but reflecting back on it she did recall the slight hesitancy and abruptness with which Guy had spoken to them. It was certainly an odd reaction.

Her questioned remained unanswered, but decided to let it drop for the moment. It looked as even Luke wasn't sure at what he was saying.

"I think our lessons will be finished for today. I want you to practice the things on the list and do at least another hour or two of walking." Ignoring the soft groan of annoyance from Luke, Natalia continued. "I'll be back in two days and we'll continue from there. I'll try and bring another list, this time of the things women have to do."

Luke nodded. "Thanks Natalia, I'll see you in two days then."

The strawberry-blonde nodded and gathered the bag the heels had been in. "Goodbye," she called out as she made her way out of Luke's room. She was still curious over Guy's reaction, but decided that was best left alone as well.

Natalia smirked lightly as she made her way back to the castle. She had some lists to concentrate on, and a day of Luke acting like a girl to look forward to.

_TBC_

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A/N: **I finished _Tales of the Abyss _a loooooong time ago, and even managed to pass _Tales of Vesperia_ since then. I hope that I'm still able to keep the characters IC, but I admit it's a little harder since I haven't played in a while. Luke seemed a little too subdued in this chapter for me, so look forward for his spark returning in the next chapter.

Also, don't expect many updates. I have some free time this summer and I'll try my hand at continuing all my fics, but no promises. However, thanks so much to everyone who has read and is reading this fic.

_Last updated: 02-26-2008_


	4. So, what happened?

"**One Way to Cure"**

_By: Setsuna-X  
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**Summary:** 3 months pre-game. Guy is still afraid of women and Luke finds a way to fix that with help from Natalia with an added bonus, of course.  
**Notes: **This is shonen-ai (BL, yaoi, slash) with the pairings being Guy x Luke. This also has cross-dressing elements. No real spoilers.  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own the characters or anything else to do with "Tales of the Abyss" - I just own the game.

**Chapter 4** - _So, what happened?_

After Natalia had left for the day, Luke decided to give himself a little break. He also felt that he had to go and explain to Guy, though over what he still wasn't sure about.

Upon exiting his room, Luke realized that he had no real idea where Guy would be at the moment. He decided to start with his room and work from there. After entering the Fabre Manor and making his way to Guy's room, Luke let out a few knocks upon the wooden door. Realizing that no one was in the room, Luke made his way out to the garden area where he and Guy usually trained with Van.

Sure enough there was Guy, helping out Hank with the gardening.

"Hey Guy!" cheerfully called out Luke, happy to have found his friend.

"Hello Luke. Where's Princess Natalia?" asked Guy. He thought for sure the two royals would be with each other all day.

"She had to leave early. Something about being a princess," laughed Luke, completely unaware at Guy's inner turmoil.

Guy was conflicted inside. He was happy that Luke was no longer around the Kimlascan princess, but was confused over why it had bothered him so much. He had grown up with Natalia as well, but there was just something different about seeing both Luke and Natalia sitting so close together that really bothered him. Guy decided that it was best to get rid of these confusing thoughts seeing as they didn't serve a real purpose.

"Want to go do something, or are you the busy one now?" asked Luke with false cheerfulness. He was hoping that Guy would be free so they could spend time together now that Natalia was gone.

"Uh, yeah I'm free. It that's okay with you, Hank?"

"Oh, go have fun, you rascals! Just don't ruin any of the new flowers I just planted!" Hank waved them off with a smile.

"Great! Let's go Guy!" shouted Luke as he grabbed onto Guy's arm and dragged him toward the small tree alcove near his house.

"Not so fast, Luke!" laughed out Guy as he tried to keep up with Lukes' enthusiasm.

"Yeah, yeah, come on, slowpoke!"

Both boys made their way to their favorite spot. There was a certain tree that had enough ridges on the trunk along with a low branch that both boys used to climb when they were younger. After climbing the tree together, they both sat in silence, regaining their breath.

"So, how was your time with Natalia?" suddenly asked Guy. He wasn't sure why he was so curious to know the answer.

"Hm...it was okay, I guess," pondered Luke out loud.

"Just okay?"

"Well, it was hard. Also she freaked out this morning when she came to wake me up," laughed out Luke, imagining Natalia's face.

"How'd you manage to do that?" asked Guy, quite curious.

"I'm still not too sure. She started freaking out after I started undressing in front of her. I was still in my pajamas and she got mad that I was getting ready for the day," responded Luke with a pout.

Guy just stared at his friend incredulously.

"..you were undressing in front of her?" he asked slowly, not sure if he heard the red-head right.

"Well, yeah. We undress in front of each other all the time; I didn't think it was such a big deal. We're all friends after all." Luke was confused over why Guy was making such a big deal about this too. Sure Natalia had somewhat explained it, but it still didn't make much sense.

"Luke, listen to me," started Guy with a serious tone. "You can't undress in front of women the same you would men because they think that it is rude and discourteous. Men undress in front of each other without that shame because we all...ahem...we all..." discontinued Guy in a murmur.

"We all what?"

"Well...because we all... you know... share the same body structure..." mumbled out Guy, his face a flaring red. Why was it always him that got stuck discussing this sort of thing with Luke!

Luke just gave Guy a long, hard stare.

"The same body structure? What do you mean? I mean, I guess girls and guys do look a little different but we all have two arms, legs, and one head - how different can we be?"

Guy was absolutely speechless. Did Luke really not know, or was he just acting this way to make him feel uncomfortable? No, by looking at Luke's face he could tell that the young fon Fabre really did not know.

"Look, I think this is something you should probably discuss with your parents. I don't think I'm the right person for this sort of explanation."

"Sure you are! You're my best friend, Guy! Besides, I'm sure mom and dad would just make _you_ tell me anyway. So you might as well just save us the trouble and tell me now," responded Luke smugly.

Guy just let out an audible sigh as he looked toward the sky for guidance. There was none.

"Okay, I'm only going to explain this once, and I don't want you asking me any more questions about it, got it?" ended Guy with a glare.

"But what if I don't understand something?"

"Then it's up to you to figure it out by yourself. Don't go asking me anymore."

Luke looked like he was about to complain, but once he saw the no-nonsense look on Guy's face he refrained.

"Oh, alright I agree," resigned Luke with a sigh.

Guy took in a deep breath to calm his nerves. Why did he have to tell Luke about the birds and the bees again? Oh right, because he was the one that practically raised the brat.

"Listen up since I will not repeat myself. You know that when you take off your shirt, your chest is flat, correct?"

Luke just nodded.

"Good. Well, girls aren't, although there are some exceptions. Their, ahem, chests are bigger than ours." Luke just nodded again.

"Now, it is okay for guys to walk around shirtless, because their chests are flat. Yet since girls are not flat, they have to cover up their chests." Luke was about to interrupt, but Guy continued explaining in a louder voice, drowning out Lukes' attempts at speaking.

"So you know when a guy takes off his pants he has...a, you know..." Guy said as he intently focused his eyes on his crotch. He vaguely gestured over the area with his hand.

Luke pretty much understood what Guy meant and nodded, his face reddening a bit.

"Good," Guy began again; thankful he didn't have to describe _everything _to Luke. "Okay, so girls don't have what we have..._down there_. Their part is different from ours. It's ...uh... flatter? And looks completely different. And that's why it's improper to change in front of someone of the opposite sex, understand?" Guy nearly shouted at the end, his embarrassment overwhelming him.

Luke still wasn't sure what the big deal was, but decided to spare his friend further humiliation. "Uh, yeah. I think I get it. Thanks, Guy!"

Guy just let out another sigh, this one relieved. He still couldn't believe he had to tell Luke all that.

"So is that why you're afraid of women, Guy? Because they have all these different parts?"

Guy just froze when he heard that question. He didn't like to sit and dwell on what his problem was when it came to women. He actually did enjoy looking at them. They were ...just pretty and different and nice. But that wasn't the reason why he feared their touch. He knew there was something more to it. Maybe something sinister. Normally it would not bother him when Luke would ask him personal questions, but it seemed as if the young fon Fabre had been pushing that certain button a lot more than usual and it made Guy uncomfortable.

"Look Luke, I really don't want to talk about it. I'm not even sure myself what my problem is, so please don't bring it up any more."

Luke assessed his friend more closely and he noticed that he had upset him. He didn't mean to, but it just happened. Trying to take his mind off it, Luke decided to change the conversation.

"Hey, remember that one time when we were getting chased by that dog and we ran up this tree? We were so scared that it was going to eat us!" laughed out Luke, lost in the memory. Guy soon joined in; his face more relaxed than it had been moments before.

"Yeah, and then we stayed up here for hours. Someone finally came and got us once they realized we had both missed lunch and dinner."

"I know! We were making all these plans of how we had to now live in the tree and what jobs we were each going to have since we were going to be living together forever," Luke laughed again.

"Here's the place where we carved our initials that day," pointed out Guy. Sure enough there was a "GC" and "LF" carved on the tree.

"Those were good times," sighed out Luke.

"Yeah," mirrored Guy, both boys sat in silence and lost in their thoughts.

"Natalia's going to be coming over again. Two days from now," said Luke, breaking the silence.

"Oh?" asked Guy, nonchalantly, but inwardly his heart began to hurt. What was going on with him?

"She's helping me out with something, so I'll be seeing her a lot the next two weeks."

"That's nice that you're spending time with her." Guy still wasn't sure what he was feeling. Usually when Luke needed help with something he would come to Guy, but now he was turning to Natalia. Guy had to admit that he was a little...jealous? He wasn't sure why it bothered him so much. Luke needed other people in his life, and Natalia was his fiancé so it made sense that the two would be spending time together as well. It was just odd and slightly sad that Luke didn't rely on only him anymore.

"But don't worry, we'll still hang out," smiled Luke at Guy as he jumped down the tree.

"I have something I have to do now, so I'll see you later, Guy!" called out Luke as he made his way to his bedroom. He had an appointment with some heels.

Guy stayed on the tree a while longer, wondering when things began changing so much and when Luke started growing up.

_TBC_

**A/N:** No excuse to the lateness of this chapter or the rest of the story. I've been too busy with life to write ff, but I certainly enjoy reading them. Just thought a quick update would be nice to get some of these old stories moving again. I hope the characters weren't too OOC.

_Last Updated: 06-10-2010_

Updated: 05-01-2012


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